I didn’t grow up attending church. I did not know Jesus.
I would pray when someone would ask me to pray for them for something they were concerned about, but I felt guilty and unworthy asking anything of God when I had not been faithful. I did not know Jesus.
A lot of my high school friends attended church and I wanted to fit in with them. I felt that I was missing something in my life. But when I attended, I still felt like I was on the outside, looking in. I felt like I didn’t belong. I did not know Jesus.
Even within the last couple of years, a good friend got me to take some baby steps to get involved a little with her church. But that old feeling came back. I felt like I was still on the outside, looking in. I did not know Jesus.
My journey to Christianity began about 9 months ago.
This same friend, whose church I had attended, invited me to a Bible study at her house. I had to admit to her that I didn’t own a Bible. She told me she had one for me. She even went out and purchased all the materials I would need to participate in the Bible study.
Through that study, I learned that I was not an accident, that God knew and loved me before my parents even met me, that God designed me with the gifts and talents he wanted me to have.
“For the first time in my life, I felt worthy of having a relationship with my Maker. I felt that I was beginning to understand God and Jesus.”
I learned that I can’t make him love me more than he does, nor can I make him love me less. It’s an unconditional love that is like all parents’ love. You may not like what your child does, but you will always love them.
I learned that God specializes in helping people start over, that it’s never too late to change. I also learned that God know that humans are incapable of being perfect, that we are a work-in-progress.
I learned that God expects more of me than just being good in an attempt to earn eternal life. I want to love, honor, trust and obey him and use my God-given gifts and talents to serve him in this world.
I want people to know that there is a God.
(shared by Betty Davis in the summer of 2014)